"Today he is better than me" - Nadal sees Alcaraz as favourite in their matchup

Rafael Nadal and Carlos Alcaraz will square off for the 3rd time in their careers later today and Nadal sees the younger Spaniard as the favourite.

The first time they played was last year in Madrid and Nadal was able to win that match without any issues. The 2nd time they played was in Indian Wells recently and it was a brilliant match with Nadal coming out on top once more. Now, the 3rd time will be in Madrid once again and speaking on the matchup, Nadal said:

I think that today, he is better than me and he has a good dynamic, a good momentum. I think I am a very realistic person, and that doesn’t make me not believe that I can win, but today I think that Alcaraz is in a better physical state of mind, and is more fit. I came here (to Madrid) without playing. He’s younger, so he has that extra energy.”

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Nadal is not worried if he ends up losing the match as Madrid comes 2nd to the French Open in Rafa's mind. He underlined it once more by explaining that all of this is just to get ready for Paris:

"At the end the most important, is not whoever is better in that sense. For him (Alcaraz), yes, the momentum of keeping on winning, but for me, at the end of the day, it is who is going to be better in three weeks’ time, and that’s my goal. Unfortunately that’s my reality right now, and that’s the goals that I have, the goals that I set for myself, because I always said I never take tournaments like Madrid, Rome as preparation to other tournaments because they are very important tournaments to me.”